Gays tell bishops: Don't blame us

DALLAS -- Parked just outside the youth center of the Cathedral of Hope, the nation's largest gay church, is a white RV emblazoned with the legend "Jesus is Lord of all."

For gay and lesbian Roman Catholics, that simple statement is at the heart of the sexual abuse crisis in the church. Many are convinced that a witch hunt is underway -- that gays are being blamed for the continuing avalanche of pedophilia complaints against Catholic priests.

The head of the national bishops' group, Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has said there is an "ongoing struggle" to make sure the priesthood is not "dominated by homosexual men." Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has said "a person who is homosexually oriented is not a suitable candidate for the priesthood."

"This brings us back to the 1950s, to the days when we had to live in the shadows," says Mary Louise Cervone, president of the gay Catholic group DignityUSA, which is sponsoring a prayer service Friday at the Cathedral of Hope, a nondenominational gay church. "I've never seen people so angry. We're being scapegoated, plain and simple."

As the nation's nearly 300 Roman Catholic bishops gather here today through Friday to debate and vote on a new policy for dealing with sexual abuse of minors by priests, voices of dissent will echo from outside downtown's Fairmont Hotel.

About two dozen groups, including the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), will use the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting here to draw attention to their issues. More than 750 media representatives have registered from around the world.

Most of the hundreds of anticipated demonstrators are pushing for zero tolerance for abusive priests, punishment for bishops who have ignored or covered up abuse, a greater role for laity and the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church.

Dealing with abusive priests is the focus of the meeting; other issues, including homosexuality, are not on the bishops' agenda. Even so, gay activists see this moment as pivotal: With 63 million Catholics nationwide, they say the church cannot afford to keep silent.

"Religion often is at the core of why people hate us," says Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( news - web sites) (GLAAD), and misinformation often muddies the waters. For every sexual predator such as accused pedophile priest Paul Shanley, there are heroic gay priests like firehouse chaplain Mychal Judge, who died on Sept. 11 in the World Trade Center while providing comfort to his company.

"People often get their views from their religions, so we don't want the pulpit saying that being gay is wrong," Renna says. "But mostly this is about the Catholic leadership refusing to accept the blame, and shifting it over to us."

The church's position on homosexuality is "a very important issue," but there are no plans to address it at this meeting, says Bill Ryan, spokesman for the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops. "The bishops are here for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to work on the 'Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,' " the title of the draft policy that they will vote on Friday.

He says the church's stance on homosexuality remains unchanged: "That (a gay) orientation is not sinful, but homosexual genital activity is sinful."

Spokespeople for two prominent urban archdioceses with large gay populations agree. Though the church is open to homosexuals, it cannot accept people who have sex with others of the same gender, says Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

In San Francisco, archdiocese spokesman Maurice Healy says that "Jesus opened his arms to everyone, and the church opens its arms to everyone." But, he adds, gay Catholics may have a difficult time. "The road of the faithful is a difficult journey, and for some people it's more difficult than others. For people with a homosexual orientation, they are asked to live a life that is chaste."

The Catholic Church does not call homosexuality itself a sin; it's considered a "disorder." But either way, some church leaders seem to want gays out.

A particular source of concern for gay Catholics is a forthcoming Vatican ( news - web sites)-led visitation of U.S. seminaries. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls went so far as to suggest recently that the church consider removing priests who are gay. And Archbishop Julian Herranz, head of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, described pedophilia as a "concrete form of homosexuality."

Gays here feel that those views could, at the very least, discourage homosexually oriented men from seeking the priesthood. At worst, they say, it could chase gays out a steadily shrinking pool of 46,000 U.S. priests.

Few statistics are available on the number of priests who are gay, but psychotherapist A.W. Richard Sipe estimates from case studies of 2,700 priests that 30% are gay and half of the 30% are sexually active.

"This Vatican visitation is code for a witch hunt. Gay priests are terrified," says Frank DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministries, a national organization headquartered in Mount Rainier, Md., that is dedicated to building bridges between the gay community and the Catholic Church.

"If the leadership doesn't support its (gay) priests, then the question is, what about the rest of us? What about the gay organists, gay choir members, gay spiritual directors?" asks DeBernardo. "There's a deep anger at the bishops who have spoken against gays, but also puzzlement that no other bishops have spoken out for us."

Into this silence have rushed a variety of conservative Catholic voices. Most echo a familiar theme: that being gay is a reversible condition and that the church cannot tolerate homosexual behavior.

"If (gay Catholics) recognize they are sinners, they should seek help," says the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition ( news - web sites), a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group representing 43,000 churches from a variety of Christian denominations. "I don't want to hurt homosexuals, but I don't want them to mess up the church."

As far as gay churchgoers are concerned, often those struggling with their sexuality are steered by church leaders to Courage, a church-sanctioned self-help organization that endorses the "objective order . . . which is heterosexuality," says the Rev. John Harvey, director of Courage's 60 support groups nationwide. "Homosexual acts are contrary to the order of human nature. People don't choose to be homosexual. It's a condition. We distinguish between having the condition and giving in to the condition."

The aims of Courage directly conflict with the mission of DignityUSA, which maintains that homosexual relationships -- including sexual ones -- should be recognized by the church. Courage supports Catholic Church teachings that sexual relations between people of the same sex are morally wrong.

Such talk leaves many gay Catholics mystified. For most, choosing between the two identities seems absurd -- and insulting.

"I want to make sure my Catholic and gay identities are seen side-by-side. There is no way in hell they're going to run me out," says Bill Mochon, a Los Angeles psychotherapist who works with gay priests and will be attending the events in Dallas.

He says the "state of alarm is very high" among gay Catholics now, but he urges everyone to keep their voices from becoming shrill. "We need to open up a dialogue with the church, which is very conservative and slow to change."

If the hierarchy is slow to change, rank-and-file priests are not, says DignityUSA's Cervone.

"I have never been to a liturgy where the priest was demeaning to gays. And that's the point," she says. "There is a cavernous divide between the bishops and everyday Catholics."

The reality is more complex. Interviews with a range of gays and lesbians who have found a place for religion in their lives suggest that many were driven from the church by peer scrutiny, which only exacerbated their battle with sexuality.

For Sharon Sherrard, a San Rafael, Calif., accountant, the feelings of condemnation led her to alcohol addiction. "No matter what I did, I knew in my mind that I could never, quote, get to heaven as long as I was an active lesbian," she says.

Rosemary Ananish of Wells, Maine, returned to the Catholic Church in her 40s. She told her parish priest that she was a lesbian, "and that didn't seem to matter." But eventually it did to some congregants. After a woman who had asked Ananish to be godmother to her child found out Ananish was a lesbian, she wrote a letter to the pope, Ananish says, saying she should not be allowed to approach the altar for communion.

A few years ago, Ananish says she "decided I had to take my money and feet out of the parish. I left because I cannot support the church that will not support me." Now she drives 35 miles to attend DignityUSA services in Portland.

Though some do leave the church, others are committed to staying, convinced that change is inevitable and impending.

"I really feel the leadership is out of touch," says Ken Scott, a university administrator from Madison, Wis. "My experience is that Catholics aren't at all confused between what a gay person is and what a child molester is. I want to try to understand why so many of our church leaders are afraid to face this issue of gay people actually being normal."

For Mark Matson, a human resources director in Columbus, Ohio, his personal battles with the church led him to "reject church teachings," but not the church itself.

"I've never felt condemned by God," he says. "It's just the church that's the problem."

Sitting inside the cavernous Cathedral of Hope, a 10-year-old concrete and stained-glass monument to Dallas' thriving gay community, Russ Windle and Chellie Griffin talk about being gay and Catholic with equals parts pride and fatigue.

"For us, this is a bit like when Jerry Falwell blamed the Sept. 11 attacks on gays. I mean, what's next?" says Windle, who, like Griffin, is a local member of DignityUSA. "I still have my faith, I still pray. But it hurts deeply that this church that is supposed to be about celebrating unconditional love is putting conditions on love."

Griffin nods, then smiles. "I have hope," she says, going on to highlight the various changes that have happened in secular society to not just accommodate gays but fight discrimination.

"Just look at the workplace. In the 1950s, they let women in, because they realized they had to. The same way that they have let gays into the workplace and kept them free from discrimination, because they have to, we're members of the society at large," she says, rocking forward in the pew.

"These changes will come to places of worship. Maybe the laity will change first, and the church will have to catch up," she says. "But regardless of what happens here this week, I know change will come."

Miami Herald | April 13,2002 | Donna Gelrke-White

Posted on 6/11/02 11:29 PM Eastern by Lady In Blue

Distraught over her crumbling marriage, the Lake Worth woman went to her pastor for help.

She says he gave her counseling -- and that led to sex.

When she complained to his bishop, he told her she was to blame.

Now as plaintiff Jane Doe, she has a sexual misconduct civil lawsuit that last month the state Supreme Court said her denomination -- the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida -- must answer.

While headlines are breaking almost daily about Catholic priests, other religions are facing the same problem : What to do when their clergy are accused of sexual misconduct? From coast to coast, Protestant and Jewish leaders have been charged with sexual abuse -- some in high-profile cases.

In the last three months, local police have arrested two ministers -- both non-Catholic -- for sex crimes.

It's a false impression to think only Roman Catholic priests are involved with sexual abuse, says Dr. Gary Schoener, a Minnesota clinical psychologist and national expert on sex abuse by clergy members. In fact, he estimates two-thirds of the 2,000 cases he worked on during the past three decades involved Protestant ministers. Most involved religious leaders abusing women or teenage girls. The same is true for Catholics, except for the high-profile cases in the Boston Archdiocese and other dioceses where a few priests molested scores of boys.

''But Protestant cases are tougher to bring,'' says Schoener, who runs the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis. ``With the exception of the United Methodists, you can't charge a diocese, synod or bishop with failure to supervise or negligent retention of an offending minister because they don't employ the pastor -- the congregation does.''

Nonetheless, many religious organizations are requiring background checks and setting up procedures on how to handle abuse cases.

''This is something that all churches are having to deal with -- and we haven't in the past,'' says Mary Cox, communications director for Southeast Florida's Episcopal Diocese.

While she says she can't comment on the ongoing case -- church leaders haven't decided yet whether to appeal the state Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court -- Cox notes the alleged incidents happened before the Episcopal church installed new policies.

''We were once very blind that this could all happen,'' she says.

That changed when a jury awarded a Colorado woman $1.2 million in a sexual misconduct judgment against the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado.

Now, Episcopal Life, the denomination's monthly newspaper, reports that background checks are encouraged for all clergy and church volunteers, and that dioceses adopt sexual misconduct policies and follow procedure manuals, which the Diocese of Southeast Florida now has in place.

All religious groups have certain responsibilities -- and can be held accountable in civil courts, says Yale law professor Peter Schuck. ''They do have an obligation to hire and supervise people with care,'' he says.

In the 1980s, the New Jersey Supreme Court found a house of worship could be held liable for negligent hiring or retention, noting the danger of ``exposing members of the public to a potentially dangerous individual.''

''I think the time has come when society needs to recognize that simply to be ordained is not a license to prey,'' says West Palm Beach attorney Gary Roberts, who represents Jane Doe in Lake Worth.

He added that he is handling another case involving an Episcopal priest in Central Florida accused of molesting a boy at a party.

Religious groups are beginning to conduct their own investigations when sexual allegations surface.

An internal investigation by the Orthodox Union of rabbis, for example, found ''profound errors of judgment'' in its handling of allegations against New Jersey Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday on charges of criminal sexual contact with two teenage girls.

And many religious groups have installed safeguards -- even without allegations arising in their own congregations.

Since the mid-1990s, Kendall United Methodist Church has required two teachers to be in each Sunday school class for children, said Mary Susan Ward, the congregation's minister of Christian education.

Background screenings are conducted for all paid staff and many volunteers, she said.

Despite measures like this, clergy abuse cases continue to surface.

A Southern Baptist minister, Fernando Garcia, made 26 videotapes of himself abusing numerous children before an 8-year-old boy came forward in Greenwood, S.C., two years ago. He recently began a 60-year prison sentence for sexually abusing 23 children.

Closer to home, Boca Raton Rabbi Jerrold Levy was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison for having sex with a 14-year-old boy he met over the Internet.

The United Methodists have a case before the Florida Supreme Court to resolve whether the denomination can be held accountable for a volunteer at a Pensacola church who allegedly sexually harassed a female staffer.

And just recently, police in South Florida accused two non-Catholic Christian leaders of sexual misconduct.

Last month, Miami police arrested the Rev. Misael Castillo, 41, the pastor of Iglesia Bautista Jerusalen in Allapattah, after officers said they found him naked inside a parked van having sex with a 17-year-old boy. He was charged with having unlawful sexual acts with a minor and released on a $15,000 bond. Castillo will be arraigned May 6.

Castillo has resigned from the church, said the Rev. David Cleeland, executive director of the Miami Baptist Association, a 280-church organization to which Iglesia Bautista Jerusalen belongs.

In January, youth pastor Monte Vaughn Benjamin of the nondenominational A Place Called Hope was charged with molesting two boys, 17 and 14. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial date is set for May 13.

Benjamin has told church leaders he is innocent. He has been relieved of duties until court proceedings and the police investigation are final, according to a church statement.

For their own protection, religious leaders must institute rules -- for example, not meet alone with children or adults -- to avoid any appearance of wrongdoing, said Fort Lauderdale attorney J. David Bogenschultz, who has represented some pastors.

''It's a shame,'' he said. ``It's the cost of doing business. You are in harm's way -- you have to protect yourself.''

The Herald wire services also contributed to this report.

From: The Washington Times www.washtimes.com

A Missing Moral Link?

Peter Sprigg
Published 6/12/2002

------------------------------------------------------------

When America's Roman Catholic bishops meet in Dallas on June 13, they will have a lot to talk about. Finding better ways to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse will be at the top of the agenda, as well it should. But the bishops should also give careful consideration to the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse.

As the scandal in the Catholic Church has unfolded, it has grown increasingly clear that boys, not girls, make up the vast majority of those sexually victimized by (exclusively male) priests. At the same time, there have been startling revelations of a large and powerful homosexual subculture among priests. These developments suggest that the real problem is neither priestly celibacy nor "a culture of sexual repression" (as Newsweek put it), but is instead the sexual exploitation of minors by homosexual men.

The Family Research Council has now connected the dots to show the evidence of a direct correlation between homosexuality and child sexual abuse — one that existed long before the priest scandals. In a paper titled "Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse," author Dr. Timothy J. Dailey has documented three key facts:

• The vast majority of child molesters are male (the Journal of Sex Research says that "pedophilia does not exist, or is extremely rare, in women").

• The percentage of the male population that is homosexual is quite small (only 2.5 percent of males, according to one estimate in the journal Demography).

• Since almost all molesters are men and the vast majority of men are heterosexual, one would expect that nearly all of the children molested would be girls. However, this is not the case. In fact, a significant percentage of the victims of child sexual abuse are boys (a study in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy found that 36 percent of male sex offenders had victimized male children).

Thus, it appears that less than 3 percent of the total male population (namely, men who are homosexual) are committing more than 30 percent of the total child sexual abuse (namely, that which is committed by men against boys). Logic thus suggests that in proportion to their numbers, homosexual men are far more likely to be child molesters than are heterosexual men.

Full Article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020612-98185291.htm

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Correction to the Title: Fags Say "Dont blame us!!